Sunday, May 29, 2011

Lights is one of the more expensive eye products from Ellis Faas, costing USD $42. There are a total of 5 shades. E301 - bright silver, E302 - gold with hints of green, E303 - bronze, E304 - lilac and E305 - duo chrome of green and brown. I picked E305 because it looked interesting.

The pen is about 15 cm long. You cannot fit this into any regular makeup pouch. You can probably use this as a weapon though.

There is a turning mechanism. It clicks when you turn. You have to turn this until the product comes out. You have to be careful when you turn, if the product decides to come out, it literally gushes out if you turn too many times. But it took me so many turns before anything came out. I think I turned it a good 15 minutes intermittently before I saw product coming out. My other pens were a disaster. My other eye shadow pen refused to work. My blush pen hemorrhaged to the point that all the product came out and dried out. (Sigh) I hate the turning mechanism. I think Ellis Faas should work on it more.

I hate the brush too. Look at it! The bristles are sticking out. They look and feel cheap. I cut the stray ones so it would look better.

I love the colour though. The duo chrome green and brown is very complex and beautiful. I apply this using the brush directly onto my eye lids. it dries quickly so I need to blend quickly. In order to soften the sharp edges I apply another cream base over this to blend. It doesn't smudge and is crease resistant. It is not water proof though. I ran my swatch with water and rubbed it, it came right off.

I compared it with two other duo chrome MAC pigments in Green Brown and Blue Brown.

I like the concept of the pen. It looks sleek. Unfortunately it is not handy enough to be kept in most makeup pouches. But I don't love the clicking mechanism. When I want to use it, I turn the pen, the product doesn't come out immediately. I need to run the brush over my hand a few times before I get product. Then when I don't need it, extra product comes out. Product wastage! I can't precisely control the amount of product I need. It pains my wallet as this costs USD $42 for a measly 2.5 ml. I can't see how much product is left and throwing the empty pen away after it finishes feels like such a waste. I like the colour but not enough to pay USD $42 for it. Not buying any more of this!

Based on the online swatches at Ellis Faas, I chose three items to try out.

I ordered Milky Eyes 208 which looks like a pink shade. Lights in 305 which looks like a duo chrome metallic brown/green and blush in 302 which looks like a pink coral shade. I hope the online swatches are accurate. I am not getting the holder yet. I will see if the products do live up to the mark before spending more money.

These products are not cheap. The blush goes for USD $32, Milky Eyes USD $36 and Lights USD $42. They provide international shipping, I paid USD$7.50 for shipping and handling.

I ordered my items and waited for almost two weeks, constantly checking my mailbox for my goodies to arrive. It never arrived. When I checked my purchase order I realised I made the biggest boo boo. I typed in the wrong unit number of my address by mistake. I made a trip to my local post office and even met up with the wonderful lady that delivers mail in our area begging them to look out for my parcel. Unfortunately nothing came out of it. I emailed Ellis Faas customer service and within three days was told they would resend my items to me. Wow! What wonderful service. In Singapore if you had such a problem, it would be your loss since you made the mistake.

I finally received my items. Unfortunately, two of the pens do not work. After sending an email to inform the company, I receive an email the next day informing me that they would be replacing my defective ones. I really impressed with the service. However due to them writing an incomplete address, my package was left at Speedpost for more than 2 weeks. I only found out a few days back. I finally received my items after more than 2 months. It is enough to sour my whole buying experience with Ellis Faas.

I must say though their customer service is very responsive. Thanks Monique.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

I have been wanting to try this foundation ever since I read about it. Being a noob like myself, I did not realise that it was available in Singapore until I read from Makeup Blogette about her rave. I went to get some samples to try but they only had B20 which was too fair for me. In a fit of crazed beauty fanatic, I got colour matched and bought a whole bottle without even trying it on.

My experience at the Chanel counter at Robinsons was not the best. The SA there was very new, her hands were shaking while helping me. She picked B20 for me. When I said that it was too fair, she picked B50 much to my alarm. I remembered that the SA at Vivocity mentioned that B30 would be a good match for me so I asked for it. I had to apply the shades on my chin myself to check. I was a little worried about my purchase.

B30 thankfully is very close to the rest of the shades I have. When first applied, it is a tad light but after a while matches my skin tone.

Singapore counters have a total of 5 shades if I am not mistaken. B10 (Pastel), B20 (Tendre), B30 (Sable), B40 (Desert) and B50 (Sienne). Chanel website lists 10 shades split into two undertones, BR for Beige Rose and B for Beige. The BR shades also have the same numbers and shade names. Karlasugar has great swatches here.

Vitalumiere has the runniest consistency of all my foundations. It is so light, I don't feel it on my skin at all. I find it easier to use my fingers to blend this. Dot and blend, dot and blend. It dries very quickly so dotting your face all over then proceeding to blend may leave you with some streaky areas. This can be layered with out looking cakey or thick. Just add more on problem areas and blend. I have been using this for about a week, not once have my makeup looked overly made up. Coverage is sheer as it does not cover my acne scars or pigmentation marks even thought I have layered more on my spots. Vitalumiere gives a natural matte finish.

I apologise for the smudged mascara!

See, it does not cover my pigmentation spots. It only gives me an even complexion.

I am not sure whether it is because of the super hot weather lately but oil-control lasts only about 5 hours. These 5 hours are in non-air conditioned environment where I sweat alot. By lunch time I do need to blot my forehead and nose. It did not survive a dance class either. After class I had to blot my face but then it was as good as new.

I prefer to use this as my weekend foundation because iIt provides light coverage. It sells for SGD $75 for 30 ml. It is a nice foundation but not HG material for me. It will suit those who already have good skin to begin with and those who want to delve into foundations and hate to feel foundation on their faces.

Monday, May 23, 2011

I was inspired to seek out My Beauty Diary sheet masks after a lovely blogger (Kimoko of Taciturnity Serenity) gave me some of her stash to try. I love them. I love the wide range that My Beauty Dairy has. I found these at Watson's Vivocity.

I bought the Black Pearl ones for SGD $14.50. There are 10 sheets inside.It is supposed to soften and whiten skin and restore skin's resilience and elasticity.

I saw boxes of assorted My Beauty Diary sheets and grabbed on as well. These go for SGD $24.50 for 17 sheets.

I don't know what made me get this. Curiosity I guess. I wanted to do a swatch and see how good it was. This was selling for SGD $29.50.

I also popped into Sasa and grabbed those. They looked quite natural and were much cheaper than my favourite Ardell's. I bought this for SGD $26. There are a total of 10 pairs inside.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

I only wanted to pick up the new Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua but I have been bombarded with so many beautiful swatches and reviews of the Soleil Tan De Chanel online that I had to pick it up. Cafe Make (the blog I go to for all things Chanel) has the most gorgeous pictures and swatches. Please see them here. Temptalia another great makeup resource has swatches here.

It costs SGD $77 at the local counters. When I saw the actual size of the product, I was actually surprised at how large it was compared to the Joues Constraste. I had the impression it would be smaller.

Left to right: Soleil Tan and Joues Contraste

The brush that comes with the compact is quite nice. It is soft and does not shed. Using this brush gives you are medium sheer application. If you want something to give a more pigmented look, you probably have to use a smaller and denser brush.

I definitely do not need anymore bronzers. The few I have are enough for me and I don't use them much anyway. But the coral shade hooked me in. So pretty! Here is my Soleil Tan doing some cam whoring!

My camera doesn't do it justice. It is very pretty under bright sunlight. The colours are shimmery.

Under bright sunlight

I apologise for not swatching the top caramel shade properly. It looks very sheer but isn't. I just didn't swatch it hard enough. I normally swish the brush around to pick up all shades and apply it to the apples of my cheeks. It gives a sheer sun kissed look. Very natural. If I wanted to stronger look, I layer it with one of my cream/gel coral blush.

There is another version of Soleil De Tan in Bronze Rose. The colours are more muted. Suitable more for fairer skin tones. You can check out pictures at Cafe Makeup and Temptalia.

This bronzer is very versatile. I won't call it a true bronzer but more of a natural blush. I can see myself just using the coral shade for blush and the bronze shades for contouring. I could also use the bronze and highlighter shades for eye shadows to create a natural look. I love that this gives just a hint of shimmer without over doing it. It is not easy to overdo this bronzer. The colour is long lasting, I do not need to reapply this throughout the day. It applies sheer not chalky. The texture of the powder is very soft, when you use the brush to brush over the surface, there is powder being kicked up. It is not an issue for me. I just pick up the loose powder with the brush and apply it too.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

I bought my Mom-in-law the Diorsnow BB creme for Mother's Day. I asked for samples to try so that I could do a brief review and swatch.

I was really into bb creams for a time but unfortunately could never find one that matched my skin tone perfectly. I also had very oily skin in the past and the bb creams I purchased just did not control oil well for me. I finally settled for liquid foundations because I wanted oil-free medium to full coverage.

Diorsnow is has the thickest consistency of all the foundations I have. It looks like it has more of a neutral tone. It suited my NC30 skin tone quite well. The SA said that it would suit all kinds of skin tones, I don't think so. It is definitely not for those that are very fair or very dark. I know bb creams are supposed to suit most skin tones but I don't believe it is possible. You should probably get samples to try before you buy it.

The first time I used it, I used very little so it was very sheer on me. It looked like I had nothing on. The second time I used more, coverage was much better and it matched my skin tone. It didn't cover my acne scars or brown spots but it looked like I had better skin. I skipped moisturiser, sun block and primer. Instead I primed my skin with just my Estee Lauder Advance Night Repair serum. It did feel a little heavy on my skin. It gave a luminous glow which I set with my GA loose powder. I wore this to my exotic dance class and after some sweating I found that my skin was a little shiny. That was about 4 hours later.

I don't think this is suitable for ladies with oily skin. Best for normal and dry skins. I prefer using my fingers to blend it out. As compared to liquid foundations, I find bb creams to be a little harder to blend in general. This bb cream is not exception. I think that warming up the bb cream with your fingers helps it to glide better. It gives medium coverage when you use one full pump and sheer coverage with half a pump. I don't think this should be used as a base for foundation. It will be too thick. I didn't want to use a primer because you shouldn't need to use one. The whole idea of bb creams is that it serves many functions at one go. Part skincare part foundation.

I'm a foundation whore lately. I love every foundation I try, there is nothing I don't like. I am liking this as well. The biggest plus for me is that I can skip many steps to my normal makeup routine. It also gives me a glow unlike the oil-free foundations that I own which are most matte.

This has a SPF of 50. I know I have said that in order for the sunblock to work, you need to use 1/4 to 1/3 teaspoon of sunblock. I think you can get away with skipping your sunblock application with this bb cream because you are using more cream than say a powder compact. I'm not sure if it is my imagination but after makeup removal and washing my face, my face felt slightly smoother.

This bb cream comes in a tube with a pump. One pump is enough to cover your face for medium coverage.

This goes for SGD $79 for 30 ml. It is apparently a hot selling item at the Dior counters. I honestly have too many foundations but this has created a serious lemming.

I caved in!

On a side note, this bb creme contains oxybenzone. There is quite a bit of controversy. I wiki ed oxybenzone and came across conflicting reports. I'm not that concerned myself, maybe I should be but read this and you decided for yourself.